Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday declared that there will be no Palestinian state, asserting that the land belongs to the Jewish state.
“We are going to fulfil our promise that there will be no Palestinian state, this place belongs to us,” Netanyahu said at the event in Maale Adumim, an Israeli settlement just east of Jerusalem.
“We will safeguard our heritage, our land and our security… We are going to double the city’s population.” The event was streamed live by his office.
Israel has long sought to build on the roughly 12-square-kilometre (five-square-mile) area known as E1, though the project had been stalled for years due to international opposition.
The site lies between Jerusalem and the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, close to key routes linking the northern and southern parts of Palestinian territory.
Last month, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich approved plans to construct around 3,400 homes on this highly sensitive tract of land.
His announcement sparked condemnation, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warning that the settlement would effectively split the West Bank in two and pose an “existential threat” to the prospect of a contiguous Palestinian state.
All Israeli settlements in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, are deemed illegal under international law, regardless of Israeli planning approvals.
Several Western governments, including Britain and France, have declared their intention to recognise the State of Palestine at the United Nations later this month.